The world of music is starting to pay attention to metal for the first time in far too long. In fact, nu metal was the last time metal mattered in the mainstream. The hits were flowing, the bands were releasing their best work and for at least four or five years, down-tuned riffs and average rappers ruled the world.
One of the greatest things about this time period is that nu metal brought hit songs by the truckload. These ten songs each bring something vital to the nu metal movement, while simultaneously being timeless metal anthems.
10
Korn – Blind
Nu Metal’s First Moment Still Crushes
The subtle, jam-room-style intro that opens Korn’s debut album is now etched into metal history. As Korn’s twin-guitar attack springs into life, causing the song’s claustrophobic riffs to build to an explosive crescendo, Jonathan Davis’s iconic “Are you ready?” on “Blind” gave birth to nu metal.
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Through the years, Korn evolved as songwriters and became one of metal’s greatest-ever artists. The big-budget video of “Freak On A Leash” took them to the masses, and any number of their earth-shaking bangers may be your personal favorite, but no Korn song had more impact than “Blind.”
9
Alien Ant Farm – Smooth Criminal
The Definitive Cover Version In A Genre Loaded With Them
Ska may give it a run for its money, but nu metal may be the genre most obsessed with covers. There are some more credible inspirations, like Kid Rock using Metallica’s “Sad But True” on “American Bad Ass,” but nu metal’s covers are often down-tuned novelty versions of pop songs.
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Most of them are every bit as bad as that sounds, but Alien Ant Farm bucked that trend. Influenced by the King of Pop‘s love of animals, Alien Ant Farm’s music video for their cover of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” broke the band on a massive scale.
The party vibe fits the song’s undeniable fun factor; there’s a break-dancing teenager who looks like a Nickelodeon drawing come to life, and it’s all perfect for one of rock’s best cover versions of all time. We never did find out if Annie was okay, though.
8
Machine Head – From This Day
Metal Stalwarts Were Joining The Nu Metal Party
When their debut album, Burn My Eyes, hit the streets, Machine Head instantly became heroes to all kinds of metal heads. Playing with Slayer and destroying main stages at metal festivals all over the world, they were loved by both the underground and the critics. By album three, the world around Machine Head changed, and they changed with it.
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Fans were angered by the band’s orange tracksuits and newly spiked and colored hair, and Machine Head’s shift to nu metal meant any band could defect to crumble to metal’s zeitgeist. Slayer would experiment with the genre on Diabolus In Musica, and Sepultura’s Max Cavalera adopted the genre from its beginning, but Machine Head going nu metal was a big moment for the genre.
7
Crazy Town – Butterfly
Not All Nu Metal Was Good
Nu metal grew to such enormous popularity that quality became incidental. In the early 2000s, any big-budget nu metal video could rise to popularity, and no clip proved that more than Crazy Town’s uber-dumb “Butterfly.”
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With more abs than brain cells, Crazy Town represented nu metal at its most embarrassing. Riffing on a sample lifted from Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Pretty Little Ditty,” the bone-headed rhymes and baby-oil-laden music video felt too far from metal’s principles. Nevertheless, the song was a number one hit around the world, and the rest is history.
6
Evanescence – Bring Me To Life
Nu Metal Is Foisted On One Of Metal’s Best Songwriters
Without question, Amy Lee was one of the finest rock songwriters of the 2000s. Evanescence’s Fallen album touched lives through a slew of hit singles. A proud musician and composer, Amy always had a problem with Evanescence’s contribution to nu metal. Speaking to Louder in 2018, Amy Lee confessed:
It was something that we had to do, it was a concession we had to make for the label.
“Going Under” might have been the most metal-friendly song on their debut, but the male rapping on “Bring Me To Life” was a record-label idea to capitalize on nu metal’s booming popularity. Lee is on record for voicing her disdain for that part of the song, and Evanescence have long dropped the rap from their live show.
Nevertheless, the song is an essential part of nu metal history.
5
Linkin Park – In The End
Nu Metal’s Biggest Ballad From The Genre’s Most Popular Band
Linkin Park was a phenomenon from the very beginning. Any of the songs that populated Hybrid Theory would be worth of inclusion here, but “In The End” showed nu metal’s softer side better than any other song. Incubus’s “Drive” has immaculate summer vibes, but “In The End” hits the spot all year round.
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Like so much of what made Linkin Park great, Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington are godlike throughout “In The End.” Every rhyme is quotable, and every melody is designed to be sung from the diaphragm on this nu metal classic. The song has taken on an extra somber tone since the passing of Chester Bennington.
4
Mudvayne – Dig
There’s More To “Dig” Than Brr Brr Deng
Aesthetically, nu metal had some crazy looks. Orgy trying to make blue lipstick a thing, nine men in boiler suits exploded, and then there’s whatever the hell Mushroomhead was supposed to be. There was a lot of crazy imagery in the genre, but Mudvayne had nu metal’s most recognisable look.
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The song may have become a meme over time, but “Dig” showed nu metal had great musicians. Their rhythm section defies belief with their avant-garde percussive attack, and their song structures and time signature wizardry are enough to impress the harshest critic. By Mudvayne’s standards, “Dig” stripped everything back and was still a frenetic assault on the senses.
3
Cypress Hill – (Rock) Superstar
Hip-Hop Artists Were Embracing Nu Metal Guitars
After metal had embraced hip-hop’s style and culture, rap was surprisingly keen to embrace metal. Busta Rhymes sampled Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man”, Method Man was showing up on Limp Bizkit albums, but no rap artist perfected nu metal like Cypress Hill.
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Already embraced by parts of metal for their alternative appeal and the crossover of hits like “Insane In The Brain,” Cypress Hill fully embraced nu metal on “(Rock) Superstar” to give the genre one of its biggest hits. Menacing with immaculate flow, B-Real and Sen Dog attack “(Rock) Superstar” like their lives depend on it.
Of all of nu metal’s massive hits, this has possibly aged the best.
2
Limp Bizkit – Break Stuff
Without Doubt, Nu Metal’s Most Aggressive Moment
If this list was to pick the genre’s most definitive artist, no band summarized nu metal like Limp Bizkit. The band’s clothes, Wes Borland’s zany look, Fred Durst’s obnoxiousness, turntables and attitude could only come from that time period, and “Break Stuff” remains their magnum opus.
It was during “Break Stuff” that Limp Bizkit’s Woodstock ’99 set became hazardous.
Dangerous from its unmistakable opening riff, “Break Stuff” is all about purging violence. It’s unapologetic in pulling no punches, and every second of this metal anthem sounds like a prison riot. Some bands have to don corpse paint or adopt blast-beats, but Limp Bizkit can incite more aggression than any of metal’s heaviest bands, simply by playing this song.
1
Papa Roach – Last Resort
No Song Summarized Nu Metal Like P-Roach’s Definitve Statement
Everyone will have a different song that they hold dearest, but no song personified nu metal like “Last Resort.” Papa Roach’s first single from their debut album, this legendary anthem featured everything that we have mentioned here that made nu metal so great.
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Perhaps most poignantly, nu metal was largely a misunderstood genre that used aggression to mask a (largely male) cry for help. “Last Resort” is a plea for compassion in a world that’s ice-cold, a desperate cry to purge one’s anger, hurt, and aggression through catharsis. All that is powered by a riff that is a better Iron Maiden riff than most Iron Maiden riffs.
